Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Grant

The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) is administering grant funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Services (AMS) Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI).

The open application period for this project has closed. The funding source for this program is not recurring, and there are currently no plans for additional funding.

The purpose of the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Cooperative Agreement Program (RFSI) is to assist U.S. states and territories to build resilience in the middle of the supply chain and strengthen local and regional food systems by creating new revenue streams for their state's producers. An emphasis was made to fund projects that benefit small and emerging farms and food businesses from historically disadvantaged groups. The program also aims to: 

• Support development of value-added products available to consumers;
• Support proposals that provide fair prices, fair wages and new and safe job opportunities that keep profits in rural communities; and
• Increase diversity in processing options in terms of business model approaches, geography, and availability to underserved communities.
  

Funds support expanded capacity and infrastructure for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distribution of locally and regionally produced food products including specialty crops, dairy, grains for human consumption, aquaculture, and other food products, excluding meat and poultry.

The program offered two grant tracks - Infrastructure and Simplified Equipment Only. Both tracks provide funds for projects that meet goals stated above.

Selected Projects

The Oregon Department of Agriculture in partnership with United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service will administer 7 infrastructure projects* and 17 simplified equipment-only projects in Oregon with awards ranging from $17,000 - $535,000. Summaries of the awards can be found here.

*Additional projects are still under review with USDA-AMS and may be announced at a later date.

General Information

For information about RFSI or which kinds of projects were eligible during the application period, please refer to the United States Department of Agriculture's RFSI webpage.

• Oregon RFSI Information Sheet (English)
• Oregon RFSI Information Sheet (Spanish)
• Oregon RFSI Information Sheet (Swahili)